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Monthly Archives: December 2014

Why 40? Why not. This has been an interesting (and to my mind, excellent) year for. There are a lot of truly great films being made these days, and don’t let anyone tell you differently. What is in doubt, is whether or not this level of quality can be maintained considering that more and more people are only going to see big tentpole releases. The big tentpole action movie market is fairly strong, with Hunger Games, and Disney doing boffo box office. And new advances in technology and funding models are allowing independent film makers to make inroads they’ve never been able to make before. But while both of those scenes have built in audiences that aren’t really going anywhere, the mid-level budget Hollywood film seems to be a dying breed. Do you know how many movies in the US top 20 cost less than $50 million to make?

Exactly two.

Folks, there are a lot of great movies being made every day, that cater to every type of taste. You just have to look for them.

A few notes about this year’s list:

This isn’t comprehensive. It’s just not possible to see every highly rated film, and still have a job. Plus, the fact that some of the higher profile buzz movies don’t make it out until the end of the year, and some don’t even get released where I live until 2015, make it even more difficult. So things like Selma, and Inherent Vice, just couldn’t be considered.

Here we go.

40. A Most Wanted Man directed by Anton Corbjin

39. Finding Fela/Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown directed by Alex Gibney